Participating in the committee stage debate on budget 2015 under the expenditure heads of the Ministry of Economic Development, the Deputy Minister said that his ministry constructed around 300 to 400 tanks a year. “The minor irrigation works of this country have not been rehabilitated for 30 to 40 years in the past. The dams have holes and cracks, the anicuts and small canals have been abandoned. The ministry is paying attention to renovate those irrigation works so that it would help people to cultivate lands lying fallow,” he said.

Minister Chandrasena said: “We have taken care of hygienic affairs of schools, to develop plots of lands uncultivated in school yards, to mitigate damages from the wild elephants and destruction to crops. We have allocated funds to every divisional secretariat concerned to erect electric fences to deter marauding elephants from entering villages. These fences are being erected expediently. We hope that we would bring about a solution to the human-elephant conflict by the end of this year.”  

“Elected representatives of public have been allocated funds to develop villages. There had been time that a single MP could not get at least Rs 500,000, and those MPs were afraid of visiting their respective electorates. Now the budget had made allocations sufficient, the public representatives could commence development programmes in their electorates,” Minister Chandrasena added. (Special Reporter/HC)